1st Visit

Free Journal

The pictures and and GPS are on our main page for our entire group, because we didnt know how to put it on ours.

Our area we are studying is in Manoa stream. We take observations in a clearing right next to the stream, surrounded by grass and other plants. We can see the water, the fishes and ducks in it, and the bugs (bees etc..) in the plants.

This will be a good place to study because it contains a source of water (the stream) it has moderate sunlight (not too little or too much) it has many different plants and such. Since most of our group members live in Manoa, it will be convienient. This is also a very pleasant place to be.


Assigned Journal

Animals:
ducks (mallards and some kind of white ones)
ants
honeybees
random bugs
fish (guppies and other small ones)
Mosquitos
flies


Plants:
big grass (as tall as me)
sleeping grass
naupaka
ginger (flower)
Coconut tree
something that looks like taro
vines crawling up the coconut tree

There were a lot of ducks (like 10 of em or more)

the grass and other leaves on the ground had holes in them, so they are being eaten.

the vines crawling up the coconut tree seem to be pretty alive, so maybe theyre killin off the tree beause the leaves and stuff are dying

NICHES
Elephant Grass
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: predator/prey (eaten by bugs)
Naupaka
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Hibiscus
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Bougainvillea
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Coconut Tree
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Only one coconut tree
Symbiosis: Parasitism (creeping vine is smothering it)
Ginger
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Sleeping Grass
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (eaten by bugs)
Jabong
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: There is only one
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Morning Glory
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: mutualism (bees get food/pollinate)
Creeping Vine
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Growing faster than other plants
Symbiosis: Parasitism (smothering the coconut tree)
Algae
Producer: Provided oxygen (Photosynthesis)
Consumer: Used Carbon Dioxide (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which don’t get eaten by guppies
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (eaten by guppies)
Guppies
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Which can avoid the ducks better
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (eaten by ducks, eats algae)
Ducks
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Which can eat more guppies
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (eats guppies)
Birds
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: Which can eat more bugs
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (Eats bugs/flies, etc…)
Honey Bees
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which can avoid predators (birds?)
Symbiosis: Mutualism (get nectar/pollinate flowers)
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (gets eaten by birds)
Bumble Bees
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which can avoid predators (birds?)
Symbiosis: Mutualism (get nectar/pollinate flowers)
Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (gets eaten by birds)
Mosquito’s
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which can avoid predators (birds?)
Symbiosis: Parasitism (drinks blood from others)
Ants
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which can avoid predators (birds?) Symbiosis: Predator/Prey (eats plants/eaten by birds)
Flies
Producer: Provided carbon dioxide (Respiration)
Consumer: Used Oxygen (Respiration)
Natural Selection: which can avoid predators (birds?)
Symbiosis: Commensalism (eats bird/duck poop)



2nd Visit

Free Journal:

1. How is it that so many plants are able to live in such close proximity in such a concentrated and crowded area?
2. Some plants appear constantly in different areas around the Stream. They seem to be doing better than all of the other plants in the same area, so they may be invasive.
3. There are many holes in the leaves of plants close to the ground, which means bugs are eating them. There seems to be an ample supply of food (plants), but there arent as many bugs as i would expect. Where are they?
4. There are several houses very close to the stream, are they the reason that there are some plants that I wouldnt normally expect here (coconut)?
5. Where do the bugs, especially bees, go when there aren't any flowers for nectar?
6. If there is such an oppurtunity for many bugs to be around the stream, why don't I see an equivelant, or even a proportionate amount of bug-predators, like birds?
7. Most of the plant-life is green and flourishing. Do the people living nearby water them?

Assigned Journal:

Competition:Plants all need water and sunlight to grow and survive. I believe that they compete for water recourses (root system) and the sunlight (outgrowing each other)All ducks need to eat and drink. I believe that they must compete amongst themselves for guppies (to eat). They don't need to compete for water, because it is readily available)
I believe that the bugs would normally have to compete for plants to eat, but since there are so many plants, competing for food isnt necessary.
Parasitism:
There is a creeping vine that is constantly growing on the coconut tree. I believe that this is an example of parasistism, because whenever we go, one always looks healthy, while to other looks worse compared to the other.

Predation:
The ducks in the stream eat guppies
The guppies in the stream eat the algae growing on rocks
The bugs on land eat the plants


3rd visit

Assigned Journal

Natural Selection:
1. Which ducks are able to get more fish (Possibly which are the fastest)
All of the ducks seem to be trying to eat the guppies in the stream, so probably the ones with the best eyes and flippers will get more fish. So i can infer that the ducks with the strongest flipper muscles and the best eyes will probably eat more guppies, and therefor survive better and possibly produce more offspring.

2. Which fish are more camoflauged (to avoid ducks)
Since the fish are eaten by the ducks, the ones that look most like their surroundings will have a better survivability chance than ones that look more obvious. In other words, the ones with the best camoflauged skin will survive better and therefore produce more offspring.

3. Which plants have larger roots (because water is readilly available, all thats necessary is being able to absorb more of it than the others)
Because water and sunlight is readilly available (stream and sun), the ones that can make the most of the available recourses will survive better. In other words, the plants with the largest and strongest roots will be able to absorb more water than smaller ones, and therefore overtime, outgrow them.

Free Journal

Why are ducks different colors
Diff Species
How can both species occupy the same niche
Enough fish, and few ducks in total

Why are some plants significantly larger than others?
Bigger roots/ closer to stream

Why are there more fish in a certain area
More rocks therefore more algae

The plants are huge compared to our previous visits...most are taller than me

What plants can survive longer w/o water, because the water is always there (what would happen)

If there there are not enough fish, then the ducks will leave.
If we clear the plants out of a small area, then plants will regrow very fast again
If water is blocked off of a certain area, then the plants will stay the same.


4th Visit

Free Journal:

The Ducks seem to stay in the same general area (upstream)
This is probably due to the fact that the water is calmer here, and that there isnt many rocks (less concentrated current)
Because the water is calmer, the ducks dont need to send as much energy staying here, compared to other areas

The grass has gotten much taller, with the exception that some have been uprooted.

There is a big plastic bin in the water. This is probably for another persons Bio Project.

The branches on a Hala tree are broken, because that is what people use to climb down to the stream bank
I think this is because people hold onto it as they climb down, therefore many people have been to the stream lately

Procedure:

I took two identical glass jars, and filled them each half-way with the water samples from two areas downstream

The first area was upstream, where there are many duck and fishThe second area was downstream, where there are less fish, no ducks, and more plants
After collecting these two samples, i brought them to class where i tested the DO and pH levels
Hypothesis:I predict that the two areas will be close in their DO and pH levels, because the constant, running water of the stream disperses the DO that plants produce, which keeps water circulating throughout the stream.

Results:


Duck Area
Plant Area
DO
6.48
6.51
pH
7.1
7.3


Results Analysis:
Just as i thought, they were close in DO and pH. The reason that downstream had more DO, is because as water travels down the stream, the plants release DO into the stream, which makes it slightly higher.

Assigned journal
Carbon Cycle:

Water.
The Fish and Underwater plants release Carbon dioxide into the water through cellular respiration
The Underwater plants consume the Carbon Dioxide that they themselves produced along with the fish, and produce Oxygen through Photosynthesis
The Fish and Underwater plants consume the Oxygen that the plants made, and produce carbon dioxide through cellular respiration, bringing everything full circle.

The fish that I mentioned are guppies, and the underwater plants are mostly algae
Air.
The birds, bugs, and plants produce Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through cellular respiration
The plants consume that Carbon dioxide that they themselves made along with the birds and bugs, and produce Oxygen through photosynthesis
The Birds, bugs, and plants consume that Oxygen that the plants made, and produce carbon dioxide through cellular respiration, having completed a full cycle.

The birds that I mentioned include cardinals, doves and ducks. The bugs include mosquitos, flies, ants and bees. The plants include species like naupaka, Ginger, Hibiscus, morning glory, etc...